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Samuel Aroney
I am an author of 3 high-impact journal articles in biochemistry and molecular biology. I have also constructed a 4000 line analytical dashboard with underlying database during an internship with Zooniverse while completing a DPhil on bacterial chemotaxis at the University of Oxford funded by a Clarendon Award.
I am currently searching for a Postdoctoral Researcher position in microbiology, molecular biology and genomics. I am also interested in data analysis and statistical programming.
Education
DPhil Candidate, Microbiology
University of Oxford
Oxford, United Kingdom
current - 2016
- Role and regulation of chemotaxis and motility in Rhizobium leguminosarum
- Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership (BBSRC)
B.S., Honours
Australian Centre for Ecogenomics
University of Queensland
2016 - 2015
- Investigating bacterial chemotaxis towards marine pollutants
- 1st Class
B.S., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
University of Queensland
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
2015 - 2012
Publications, Posters, and Talks
Lifestyle adaptations of Rhizobium from rhizosphere to symbiosis
Under-Review (copy available upon request.)
N/A
2020 - 2020
- Authored with Rachel M. Wheatley, Brandon L. Ford, Li Li, Hayley E. Knights, Raphael Ledermann, Alison K. East, Vinoy K. Ramachandran and Philip S. Poole.
A Rapid Extraction Method for Glycogen from Formalin-fixed Liver
Carbohydrate Polymers
N/A
2015 - 2015
- Authored with Mitchell A. Sullivan, Shihan Li, Bin Deng, Cheng Li, Eugeni Roura, Benjamin L Schulz, Brooke E Harcourt, Josephine M Forbes and Robert G Gilbert.
Changes in Glycogen Structure over Feeding Cycle Sheds New Light on Blood-Glucose Control
Biomacromolecules
N/A
2014 - 2014
- Authored with Mitchell A. Sullivan, Shihan Li, Frederick J. Warren, Jin Suk Joo, Ka Sin Mak, David I. Stapleton, Kim S. Bell-Anderson, and Robert G. Gilbert.
Research Experience
Rhizobial Motility Researcher
Philip Poole Laboratory
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford
current - 2017
- Determining the role of flagellar-based motility and chemotaxis in the symbiosis of Rhizobium leguminosarum with Pisum sativum (pea).
- Characterising the influence of the metabolic potential of the environment, especially through the phosphor-transferase system, on its swimming ability.
Graduate Safety Representative
Department of Plant Sciences
University of Oxford
2020 - 2019
- Departmental Graduate safety representative for Safety committee meetings and graduate student contact.
- This involved managing the Department’s response to the COVID-19 crisis and determining the safest way to return to work.
Software Development Intern
The Zooniverse
University of Oxford
2019 - 2019
- Software development for The Zooniverse, a community science website.
- Primarily involved in developing a GraphQL based statistical database of users and visitors to the website in Ruby, Bash and Python.
Synthetic Biology Researcher
Philip Poole Laboratory
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford
2017 - 2017
- Characterising nitrogen-fixation ability of Pseudomonas stutzeri and genetically modified Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf-5 and SBW25.
Plant Biochemistry Researcher
Andrew Smith Laboratory
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford
2017 - 2017
- Sequencing Portulaca oleracea with Oxford Nanopore MinION technology. This plant performs both CAM and C4 photosynthesis.
- Extracted and analysed the activity of various phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylases from C3 and CAM photosynthetic plants.
Metagenomics Researcher
Australian Centre for Ecogenomics
University of Queensland
2016 - 2015
- Using the newly developed in-situ chemotaxis assay (ISCA) device to capture bacteria that display chemotaxis towards environmentally relevant compounds, including poly(ethylene terephthalate) degradation products and pesticides (diuron and atrazine).
- Then analysing the captured microbes using culture-independent methods (e.g. 16S rRNA gene amplicon and metagenomics) to provide the microbial population attracted by each individual chemoattractant and their metabolic potential.
Graduate Research Assistant
Australian Centre for Ecogenomics
University of Queensland
2016 - 2016
- Comparing 1<U+00B5>L sea water samples before and after homogenisation to provide metagenomic data of the microheterogeneity of microbial life at such volumes.
Undergraduate Researcher
Centre for Advanced Imaging
University of Queensland
2015 - 2015
- Writing code in R to estimate individual false-discovery rates across NMR metabolomics data split into columns along the ppm.
- This allows the amelioration of the multiple testings problem, without relying on a uniform FDR assumption.
Research Assistant
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation
University of Queensland
2014 - 2014
- Comparing the glycogen extracted through the traditional sucrose-gradient method to that extracted from formalin fixed samples.
Undergraduate Researcher
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation
University of Queensland
2013 - 2013
- Testing the amount and structure of glycogen in mouse livers at different times after eating through an assay, size-exclusion chromatography and transmission electron microscopy of extracted glycogen.
Teaching Experience
I greatly enjoy the experience of discovering where a student is and finding a way to guide them to their own epiphany about a topic.
In vitro enzyme kinetics
Department of Plant Sciences
University of Oxford
2020 - 2019
- Demonstrating for In vitro enzyme kinetics practical focussing on the kinetics of alcohol dehydrogenase.
Programming for Life Scientists
Doctoral Training Centre
University of Oxford
2019 - 2017
- Demonstrating for the programming module using the languages Python and C.
Plants and People
Department of Plant Sciences
University of Oxford
2019 - 2019
- Tutorials about the role of motility and chemotaxis in the soil and in the rhizobium-legume symbiosis.
Analysis of Scientific Data
Faculty of Science
University of Queensland
2016 - 2015
- Demonstrating for Analysis of Scientific Data (STAT1201), focussing on experimental design, data modelling and statistics.
Inorganic, physical and organic chemistry
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biology
University of Queensland
2015 - 2014
- 1st Year inorganic, physical and organic chemistry (CHEM1090/CHEM1100) peer-assisted study sessions.
Chemistry and Statistics tutoring
Faculty of Science
University of Queensland
2015 - 2014
- Drop-in tutoring at the Science Learning Centre for 1st Year Chemistry and Statistics.
Awards
Brasenose Oxford-Australia Clarendon Scholarship
University of Oxford
Oxford, United Kingdom
2020 - 2016
Brasenose Studentship Fund
University of Oxford
Oxford, United Kingdom
2020 - 2020
Vice-Chancellor’s Education Award
University of Oxford
Oxford, United Kingdom
2020 - 2020
- Programming for Life Scientists received the award particularly with its focus on giving a highly diverse cohort with mixed experience and backgrounds a solid foundation to begin doctoral research science.
UQ Honours Scholarship
University of Queensland
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
2016 - 2015
UQ Excellence Scholarship
University of Queensland
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
2015 - 2012
UQ Summer Research Scholarship
University of Queensland
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
2014 - 2013
UQ Summer Research Scholarship
University of Queensland
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
2013 - 2012
Public Engagement
I have found the engaging the public with my science has been both rewarding and important for improving public perceptions of science.
Perspectives
Oxford University Press
Oxford, United Kingdom
2020 - 2020
- Interviewed about the underwater agricultural research centre, Nemo’s Garden, for a series of videos on Perspectives.
Super Science Saturday: People and Planet
Museum of Natural History
Oxford, United Kingdom
2018 - 2018
- Organizing and running ‘Root-nodules’ stall for families.
Inside Cells Day
Museum of Natural History
Oxford, United Kingdom
2017 - 2017
- Presentation about ‘Fertilizers and the Environment’ to A-level High School Students.